Tuning attachment for stringed instruments



PATENTBD MAR. 1, 1904.

E. SPROTTE.

TUNING ATTACHMENT FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 16.1902. RENEWED JAN.21,1904.

N0 MODEL.

H531 52: man mvmn Em ASE. D317: 651?.

s cc. Fnuum Patented March 1, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

EDWARD SPROTTE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TUNING ATTACHMENT FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS- SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 753,327, dated March 1, 1904.

Application filed January 16,1902. Renewed January 21, 1904. Serial No. 190,080. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, EDWARD SPEoT'rE, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tuning Attachments for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in tuning attachments for stringed instruments; and it consists in the novel construc tion and arrangement of parts more fully set forth in the specification, and pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of a string instrument with my device attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2 2 of Fig. 5. Fig. 3 is an end view of the neck of the instrument with my device in position. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a side elevation.

The object of my invention is to provide a string instrument with a tuning attachment which shall always be in a fixed position relative to the string to be tuned,so that the tuning of the instrument can be accomplished not only in a minimum amount of time, but without the necessity of resorting to any instructions or instituting comparisons between the tuning device and the strings of the instrument.

In detail the invention may be described as follows:

Referring to the drawings, M represents a mandolin, and G D AE, respectively, the pairs of G, D, A, and E strings with which the instrument is provided. At the outer end of the front face of the neck of the instrument is mounted a bracket 1, secured in position by screws passed through the terminal ears or lugs 2 of the same, the bracket being inclined to the face of the neck, by which it is supported, for a purpose presently to appear. To this bracket is secured the tuning device 3, composed of a series of reed-tubes previously set to the sound of the strings G D A E and marked accordingly, the G-tube being in alinement with the G pair of strings on the instrument and each consecutive tube being in alinement with the next consecutive and corresponding pair of strings, as seen to best advantage in Fig. I. In addition to the construction described the bracket 1 has a front deflected portion or wall I, which laps over the front edge of the neck, said deflected portion having also markings which designate the strings to which the reed-tubes opposite said markings correspond. Thus in Fig. 3 the designation Fourth or G str. inclicates that the Gr-tube is opposite the G-strings on the instrument.

With the present device a beginner or a mere tyro'can pick up the instrument and tune the same by simply sounding the tuner and then imparting the necessary tension to the strings opposite the particular tube sounded, and this even without the necessity of first stopping to look whether the proper strings are being manipulated, the. strings being always in alinement with the several tubes of the tuner. The object of giving the bracket 1 the rearward inclination previously referred to is to impart a corresponding inclination to the tuning attachment, a necessity arising from the fact that should the tuner be set parallel to the face of the neck and a string should snap there would be danger of such broken string striking the eye of the operator; but with the rearward inclination thus imparted to the tuning attachment the face of the operator is always sufliciently rearward to avoid the accident referred to.

I do not, of course, wish to be limited to the character of the stringed instrument to which my invention shall be applied nor to any specific tuning device, as these may be varied without affecting the spirit or nature of my invention; nor doI wish to be limited to the precise location of the tuning device.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A stringed instrument having a bracket located at the free end of the neck thereof,

a deflected Wall forming a part of said bracket, member of said tuning device, substantially a tuning device mounted on said bracket, the as set forth. 10 individual sounding members of said device In testimony whereoflaflix my signature in being located in the same vertical planes With presence of two Witnesses.

5 the series of strings carried by the instru- EDWVARD SPROTTE.

ment, the deflected Wall of the bracket having Vitnesses: suitable inscriptions indicating the character EMIL STAREK,

of the string located opposite each sounding G. L. BELFRY 

